For Christine McGregor, her business is a family affair.
She founded the McGregor Finance Group — a boutique, family-owned and operated finance advisory and brokerage, where she now serves as director — in 2013. It wasn't long before her husband Craig McGregor came on board, helping co-run the business and leading up the commercial arm of the business. Her daughter Emma McGregor also works at the firm, which is headquartered in The Junction suburb of Newcastle, New South Wales, on the residential side. The couple's other son and daughter also work in the firm remotely, from the Philippines and Melbourne, respectively.
"It's very much a family business," McGregor, who goes by "Chrissy," told Australian Broker. "We are a family business helping families look after their wealth."
Today the business operates offices in Newcastle and Coffs Harbour, offering a broad range of finance solutions, spanning residential and commercial lending, business loans, construction, self-managed super funds (SMSF) and asset finance.
The trio up in Newcastle recently made their way down to Sydney for Australian Finance Group’s (AFG) 2026 New South Wales / Australian Capital Territory State Broker Awards ceremony in September, after being nominated for three different awards.
McGregor Finance Group took home the "Industry & Community Broker Group of the Year" award.
Australian Broker caught up with Chrissy and Craig McGregor to find out the story behind the firm's success, the strategy driving the business and their perspective on the current lending landscape.
The following interview has been edited for grammar and clarity.
Chrissy McGregor: Yes, it is.
Chrissy McGregor: No, not at all.
Chrissy McGregor: I think we won because we are a small family business. But we give back to the community as much as we can. We sponsor many events. We support the local schools, the local sporting teams, have lots of fundraisers, and just give back to the community as much as we can.
Craig McGregor: There are lots of not-for-profits and disadvantaged groups that we support in the community. Some of those are where we give our time, and some of them are where we fundraise to make donations. It might be, for example, a women's shelter, or things like that, that we would run an auction item that we would then donate and raise funds for. Or perhaps for sporting clubs, or charities helping fight illness. We might sponsor a walk, or some staff might do a month of setting up a swimming challenge that raises money, some might donate to the Cancer Council, or a walking charity, or something like that. It's part of our strategy. Our strategy has always been to give our time and effort and to raise money for other people. We're giving to the community from our privileged position since some other people are not.
Chrissy McGregor: We started in Coffs Harbour, NSW. Now we're in Coffs Harbour and Newcastle.
Chrissy McGregor: I started the business in 2013. I started the business, then my husband joined. Out of the business, McGregor Finance Group won the Community award. But my husband was nominated as a finalist for the "Best Broker Asset Finance" award. And my daughter was nominated as a finalist for the "Best Loan Administrator" award. And my son works in the business as well, in asset finance. He's in the Philippines. And my other daughter works in the business as well. She's in Melbourne and does our market. So it's very much all of us in the business; it's very much a family business.
When I started in 2013, I very much felt like a fish out of water. It wasn't common [for women in broking then]. It's still not necessarily common. It's still very much a male-dominated industry when you're looking at things. So it's very encouraging to see that I've got my girls coming up in the business, that they are going to come up and be brokers in the business and take over from us as well.
Craig McGregor: We have three children, all in the business. Some work remote, some are overseas. The kids have been, kind of, raised in and around finance.
Chrissy McGregor: As far as a business, we're still enjoying helping our clients get into homes, investment properties, and, I suppose, what we love about our business is that every client who we call when they reach a settlement; we're so thrilled for them. Everything is so personal for us. That's one of the highlights of the business, being able to help people, whether it's their first home, or their second home, investment property, or grow their portfolio. As far as the changes that's happened in the industry and how that's impacted on us, it certainly has made our clients a little bit more cautious, I would say, in investment properties and where they're going with the investments. But it's still very important to give the people the ability to be self-reliant and self-sufficient in growing and being in control of their destiny, which is what we love as well.
Chrissy McGregor at the AFG State Broker Awards in Sydney.
Chrissy McGregor: I think that's part of our appeal to clients who deal with us, that it is so personal, that we're not a transactional business. We take everything so personally. I have clients where I work with three generations. I work with the grandparents; I do their loans, their kids and then their grandkids. That's really appealing to us to be able to help, that we're not transactional. We are a family business helping families look after their wealth.
Chrissy McGregor: Certainly, I think that with the changes with the government regulations, people have become more cautious and are looking at how that impacts on them. And it does impact people's ability to purchase, with the negative gearing changes. That's definitely put a stop on some people's ability to grow a portfolio in investment properties. And it's not just the older generation. I've got younger people who are trying to build a portfolio and it has impacted their ability and their lending, as such.
Chrissy McGregor: I wouldn't be able to say one segment or group of borrowers over another. Our portfolio and our group of clients… we don't really advertise. It's all word of mouth. And a lot of it is either first-time homebuyers. And my husband does the commercial side. That's always a big part of our business.
Chrissy McGregor: For us, a big part of our market is helping people either get into the market or to refinance. There's a lot in the market at the moment with refinancing, clients trying to — just before the rates increase again — get the best interest rate possible. That's what I'm seeing. I'm having a lot of those phone calls at the moment, because people are concerned about interest rates. We're trying to be on top of that and be proactive in calling clients, and just saying that we could do a refinance with you. That's really important to people. Interest rates are still very important to people.
Chrissy McGregor: I think the secret to our success is that we are a family business and people do like to know that we are invested in them. We do have a personal relationship with all of our clients and that is key to our success. And also giving back to the community. We love to give back, give money to sporting events, and schools, and support our communities.
